4 blue and 6 acitinic or 2 blue and 8 acitinic?

[stevedpepper]

Only have room in the hood for 10 bulbs. 6 are connected (4 acitinic and 2 blue), therefore I will be using them. But then I have 6 more bulbs, in sets of 2 (thus, 3 sets of 2). One set is 2 blue bulbs, the other two sets are acitinic (I can certainly interchange them). So, what do I do:

1) The 6 pack plus 4 more acitinic; or
2) The 6 pack plus 2 acitinic and 2 blue; or
3) The 6 pack plus 3 acitinic and 1 blue...

Please assist, thank you.

 

[stevedpepper]

FYI, it's a 250g tank....

 

[melosu58]

If it was me I would do the 6 pack of a 50/50 bulb and 4 of the actinics. My first suggestion was going to be half and half but I see that was not a choice. I have VHO bulbs but I have two 50/50 and two actinics and IMO they look pretty nice.

 

[carey]

I like a more blue tank so I would go with 5 whites and 5 blues(actinics) OR 4 whites and 6 blues.

Which bulbs are you looking at? ATI geissmenn.....

I have in my 12 bulb fixture over my 125g 6 ati aquablue specials for the whites, 4 aquablue plus (acticnics) and 2 purple plus. It gives the tank a tad bit of a purple hue to it.

 

[stevedpepper]

Hey Carey, which combo will help with coral? I have a ton of coral... More acitinic or more blue?would 8 acitinic and 2 blue be best for coral?

 

[melosu58]

IMO any of them will work. Those combos are the same and depends on what you like looking at. On my set up a 6 foot 50/50 bulb is 160 watt just as a 6 ft actinic is. The blue part of the spectrum is the part that makes it to the corals in the real ocean reefs. You have the actinc which is blue and you have the 50/50 which is half white and half actinic.

 

[carey]

Acitnics ARE blue.

Your corals will need a full spectrum of light, whites, and blues so the last two bulbs can be up to you based on what look you like for your tank. With the combo I have I have seen really good growth over the last year, from softies to sps like monitporas and I had a killer poccilipora that like tripled in growth. It's also all about placement in the tank as well as flow. You could have the best lighting in the world and still not have your corals do well if either the flow or light intensity is off.

I would for sure have some whites in the array, no doubt about that.

 

[stevedpepper]

Thank you so much, even though I'm still a little confused. Let's put it this way:
I have 6 bulbs, and can only place 4 of them. 2 of those six are called "Aquablue" and the other 4 are "Acitinic." So, what combination of 4 out of those 6 I just listed will be best for coral growth/beauty appearance? Thankyou!!

 

[carey]

I would use the 2 aquablue ones and the other 2 actinics in that case. You still want some white spectrum for the corals.